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Re-imagining the road trip
Transportation initiatives aim to connect Wisconsin like never before

by becky salmela

Driving from Superior to Kenosha requires 7.5 hours. The trip from La Crosse to Milwaukee is 3.5. Reserve four hours to get from Rhinelander to Janesville.

But imagine instead a high-speed train that zips across the state from city to city, connecting the rural areas to urban centers, easing traffic congestion and shortening driving times. The hours-long trips of today might require only minutes tomorrow.

These are not unattainable goals. Connecting Wisconsin with easy-to-use public transportation is already in the works with projects like Connections 2030, Transport 2020 and the Midwest Regional Rail System. Each of these proposals will make traveling around Wisconsin faster, bringing people together and connecting the state with its neighbors.

“There's a palpable energy and enthusiasm for modern transportation investments to complement things like the Overture Center, the Milwaukee Art Museum and Miller Park that elevate Madison and Milwaukee's national reputations as exciting places to live, work and play,” says Ward Lyles, transportation policy expert for 1000 Friends of Wisconsin. “Rail is not a panacea, but it is one of the important components of an economic development strategy that focuses on building and maintaining a high quality of life that in turn attracts high-quality talent and employers.”

Young professionals see high-speed rail as necessary for improving their quality of life and making Wisconsin that much more appealing. In the latest plans for the future of transportation, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) now includes a multimodal system. According to Douglas Dalton, WisDOT planning section chief, the goal of the system is to improve transportation across the state, providing good highways, airports and railways.

“What we want to do is provide alternative options for transportation throughout the state,” Dalton says. “It’s not just relying on roads and highways to get by.”

WisDOT is completing a proposal for a new transportation system that provides options, supports economic development and protects the environment. Moving to a system that is supported by other means of transportation, including an additional passenger rail, is a move away from the current reliance on roads and highways and toward a system designed around WisDOT’s Connections 2030.

A system to connect the state, like Connections 2030, will provide the long-range blueprint for future travel decisions in Wisconsin through the year 2030. The plan addresses all forms of transportation: highways, local roads, air, water, rail, bicycle, pedestrian and transit. The long-range goal for Connections 2030 is to create an integrated system incorporating all of these individual modes of transport. The project gives policy-makers long-term goals to consider since it has recognized transporation needs through the year 2030.

Wisconsin currently relies on transportation by roads and highways to get across the state. Highway 53 gives travelers access to the northern forests of the state and Lake Superior. Traveling between Milwaukee and Madison is quick on Interstates 90 and 94, which continue on to La Crosse and the Twin Cities. Interstate 43 provides access from the urban area of Milwaukee to Green Bay and Door County. Overall, moving around the state is simple—provided it is by car.

Most rural areas of the state lack alternative means of transportation. For those in rural areas, less-privileged residents or those without driving capabilities, such as the elderly, accessing urban centers for medical care or jobs is impossible. It is difficult to reach smaller cities efficiently and can be hazardous during inclement weather. A recent survey completed by WisDOT found that nearly one-third of residents in the southeast region of Wisconsin do not own a car. By the year 2020, the population of Wisconsinites over the age of 65 will increase by 50 percent.

The state’s reliance on cars is obvious during peak driving times in Milwaukee and Madison. Since 1982, travel has increased by 60 percent on Wisconsin’s state highways while the number of new lanes has increased only 5 percent. Nearly 20 percent of the state’s most important routes are congested and will only become increasingly congested in the next few years. To eliminate congestion, WisDOT would need to use all funding allocated through 2007, leaving nothing for other transporation needs, like repairing bridges and roads.

WisDOT wants to provide as many transportation options for residents as possible. Not limiting planning solely to transportation needs, Connections 2030 includes plans for economic development, land use, financing for transportation plans and potential environmental factors.

Protecting the environment is a concern WisDOT considers vital when planning for the state’s infrastructure. Congestion in urban areas is harmful for air quality and energy consumption. Highways cannot be expanded because of land use issues. WisDOT considers protecting agricultural lands, wetlands and wildlife essential to all planning. Additionally, transportation decisions must include local-level planning to avoid separating neighborhoods or increasing noise levels.

WisDOT is solving these problems and concerns through long-range planning. Concepts like Connections 2030 help WisDOT, legislators and the state plan and prepare for future projects. Connections 2030 is a change from the current planning system used by WisDOT because it is a series of policy-based recommendations ranked by the level of funding required.

Connections 2030 contains statewide recommendations that differ depending on specific locations in the state. High-volume traffic areas receive greater attention to alleviate congestion and prepare for expansion. Improved roadways, new bridges or passenger train stations will aid rural areas.

Connections 2030 incorporates the needs and concerns of local residents by involving local governments. County and city officials are included in the planning stages, and their involvement is key to successful transportation projects. WisDOT has begun using a corridor approach to incorporate the local concerns into future transportation plans. Working with local governments and municipalities, WisDOT considers how to make future transportation plans and options as viable as possible for a community. Dalton says the plan improves coordination between the state and localities.

“It recommends what’s needed in a particular area to fix current problems and to be a little bit more explicit with what people can expect and should expect,” Dalton says. “We don’t look just at the highway; we also look at adjacent lands, asking, ‘Are there local roads, county roads that can be expanded? What impact will there be on the environment?’ Hopefully it reflects some of the local consideration.”

Dane County residents may see this collaboration in their own towns as state, county and municipal officials set their sights on Transport 2020. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk each proposed a transportation system—streetcar and light rail, respectively—to ease traffic congestion and parking headaches, and encourage positive economic development in Dane County and Madison. The long-range goal of Transport 2020 is to eliminate congestion in Madison by using existing rail lines for passenger transport. High-speed trains will link outer suburbs of Madison to the city.

Falk and Supervisor Scott McDonnell offered their rail transit proposal in August 2004. Dubbed “Dane Train,” the system of small, diesel-electric vehicles would run on existing rail corridors around Dane County and rail lines to be built into Madison streets. Phase One of Dane Train would connect Middleton to downtown Madison, with a total of 10 stops at places like the Hill Farms State Transportation Building, the UW-Madison campus, Capitol Square and the Alliant Energy Center. Eventually, lines could be expanded to link Fitchburg, the Dane County airport and Sun Prairie.

Considering the needs of moving people around the city, Madison’s mayor has chosen streetcars, a lighter-weight car similar to a trolley, as the focus of his new system. The mayor’s streetcars could also encourage development. The immovable track would increase property values with new businesses and dwellings, all while relieving pressure on roads and parking.

With the ideas and proposals submitted by Transport 2020, WisDOT can incorporate those plans into Connections 2030 for the state’s long-term transportation needs, Dalton explains.

KRM Commuter Rail is a line to be built between Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee. The 33-mile route is an extension of Chicago’s METRA commuter rail but provides another option for Wisconsin residents. WisDOT would finance the project once initial studies are completed. Commuters can easily reside in outlying areas and reach Milwaukee and Chicago metro areas quickly, cleanly and efficiently. Initial studies indicate KRM would reduce congestion by 4-12 percent along Interstate 94 from Milwaukee to Kenosha.

Not only does the plan help residents of the Kenosha and Racine areas, but the route is expected to promote development as well. Nearly 150,000 jobs would lie within a half-mile of the route, according to a study by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. The creation of jobs along with improved travel times and commuting ease allows the southeast region to compete with surrounding areas for residents.

As Transport 2020 connects the residents of Dane County and KRM Commuter Rail provides transporation options to residents of southeast Wisconsin, WisDOT seeks to connect Wisconsin with its neighboring Midwest states. To accomplish this, WisDOT is working with the transportation departments of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio.

The Midwest Regional Rail System (MRRS) will provide high-speed passenger rail service from Milwaukee to Madison. The rail system will expand current Amtrak rail and use high-speed trains. With proximity to Chicago, the hub of MRRS, Wisconsinites would benefit from having access to the fastest trains in the proposal as well as being part of the first phase, according WisDOT passenger rail implementation manager Randall Wade. Because all states re-committed to participating in MRRS in September 2005, building the rail lines could begin immediately once financing is allocated, Wade explains, because the environmental assessment is completed and engineering has begun.

The MRRS lines running through Wisconsin will connect Milwaukee to Chicago, Green Bay and Madison, as well as Madison to the Twin Cities. The trains running from Milwaukee to Madison will be the latest technology available, operating at 110 miles per hour. Wisconsin will also benefit from having one of the four airports in the United States linked to an Amtrak rail line, making air travel easy from any location on the rail line to anywhere in the world.

Although these plans are in place with all states on board and many have begun the necessary environmental and engineering to begin building, federal policy-makers must allocate final funding plans. MRRS needs $316 million to build rail lines and purchase trains for the Milwaukee to Madison section, according to Wade. Wisconsion is able to allocate $50 million to begin building, but the rest will need to come from Congress. The states involved in MRRS are lobbying in Congress although expenses like the Gulf states’ cleanup and the war in Iraq have taken precendence this legislative session.     

But rail is still a possible option for Wisconsin because it gives people an alternative means of traveling, Wade explains. He adds that it improves individuals’ efficiency by allowing them to do work while traveling, and it fights congestion. Citing a recent announcement that current Amtrak Hiawatha line between Chicago and Milwaukee set 10 on time records while O’Hare Airport is only 50 percent on time, Wade describes Wisconsin and the Midwest as ideal markets for a passenger rail system.

“Rail works best in small-to-medium markets, cities where airfare is too expensive, but it takes too long to drive,” Wade says. “The whole idea is that travel time is better than auto while the cost is 60 percent less than air.”

The connections planned by the state with initiatives like Connections 2030 will provide Wisconsin with the means to quickly reach all corners of the state and even the entire Midwest. Residents may soon be able to access areas only currently accessible by car. By improving the means to travel quickly, safely and efficiently, Wisconsin will be seen as modern, adding to its appeal as a wonderful place to live.

©curb magazine - winter 2005
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